CHICAGO. August 13, 2009. It was nice and warm, partly cloudy, just the right sort of day to go to the baseball. Ever the optimist Cub fans were not deterred by the recent form and the Friendly Confines were close to full. Ryan Dempster was taking his turn against the left handed pitcher for the Phillies, Cliff Lee.

It started ok for both teams. In fact to my mind up to the beginning of the 4th Dempster had the edge.  He only gave up one hit: a single to Utley in the 1st. The Phillies Lee gave up 3 walks and 2 singles.

But along came the 4th and trouble. Victorino got a single. Utley was given a walk and Ryan Howard homer’d to take the lead for the Phillies with 3RBI’s. Then the 6th man up, Feliz snatched himself a home run. Score 4-0.

It was the bottom of the 5th before the Cubs could open their account. Baker started with a double and third man up Theriot got a single to get the Baker run home. At the bottom of the 5th it was 4-1.

Walks are all very well if you get the next 3 out to end the innings before the walker can get in to score but walks that score really hurt. They are cheap runs. You had Utley in the 4th and now at the top of the 5th a further walk was granted to Howard which he cashed in on to steal second base, his 5th steal this season. Feliz singled to get Howard home.

Although Soriano singled in the 6th the Cubs couldn’t convert it and the score at the start of the 7th was 5-1.

One of the reasons that the Phillies are the World Series Champs is that they don’t sit on their laurels and they certainly didn’t in the 7th. Victorino doubled and Utley got a single to get the run home before he was tagged out at 2nd to end their innings. No run came for the Cubs and the Phillies were now 6-1 up.

I begun to wonder did it even matter who won the game after I listened to Jim Belushi singing the 7th innings stretch. It was worth it to have been there to hear him belt it out. If his voice had been a baseball bat he would have scored a home run. However it wasn’t enough to encourage the Cubs to score.

As evidence of the depleted Cubs pitching staff Justin Berg was sent in for his Major League debut to replace Dempster at the start of the 8th. He did a nice job and gave up no more runs. The Cubs weren’t able to add to their solo run of the afternoon. It ended 6-1.

The Cubs were swept at home by the Phillies for the first time in 25 years. Let’s hope it will be at least another 25 years before it happens again. I am more hopeful about the Pirates visit tomorrow.

A.L.

Chicago Cubs Baseball Insider